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Huge New Student Housing Development at 18th and Cecil B Moore Wednesday, February 22, 2012

As we've mentioned repeatedly in the past, the number of new student housing buildings planned, under construction, or recently completed in the area surrounding Temple University is seriously off the charts. We spotted a biggie yesterday while we were in the neighborhood. But first, some history:

In 1901

Around 1875, Gethsemane Baptist Church was constructed at 1801 Cecil B Moore Ave., a very large, attractive building that clearly made its presence felt to passersby.

As time passed, this magnificent building feel into disrepair, was structurally compromised over the past several years, and partially collapsed in 2009.

Looks bad

In 2010, it was sold for $389K to developer Todd Joseph, of Temple Spaces. Construction has been ongoing for months, and apartments should easily be ready for tenants by the summer.

Retail space on the corner

That's a lot of cases of beer

According to the zoning application from last year, eight buildings are replacing the church. The corner building has a small retail space (for what, we don't know) and three apartments. The next three homes, moving north, are also triplexes. The last four homes are duplexes. Several of the units will have parking spaces in the rear, though these spaces will definitely not be one to one for the dozens of students that will descend upon these apartments in the very near future.

We also noticed this orange sign in a large empty lot just on the other side of 18th St.